Greetings, all! First post. I'm new to the track, and I'm looking for advice on reading my rotors after 20- to 25-minute runs on the track. I recently spent a couple of HPDE weekends at Inde Motorsports Ranch in Willcox, Arizona. It's a beautiful, technical track with a couple of long straights (the back straight is an airstrip), braking from 100-130 mph down to 70-40 mph depending on turn and configuration. Those were my speeds, at least.
I am running G-Loc R12/R10 on the track, swapping with GS-1 for the street. I retrofitted the Brembo calipers and installed all new rotors and pads last month. I also replaced the GT/CS front spoiler and belly pan with PP parts and installed the big Vorshlag air deflectors for front brake cooling.
This past weekend was my second track event, I hit a much faster pace than last month, and I worked on braking with more intent during approach, adding trail braking into some turns to set the car. I encountered many more instances of maximum brake pressure since I was coming in with more speed, so I assume I built up more heat this weekend, leading to much more even transfer layer than last month (uneven deposits during first event shown at end of post). On Saturday during session 2 of 4, I switched the driving mode to Track by my instructor's guidance, because stability control was intervening early/unexpectedly. On Sunday, hitting a long right-hand sweeper at 70+ mph, my electronic aids went out (maybe broken thrust washer in rear axle), so I basically drove all of Sunday without electronic aids and have a flat spot to show for it. The electronic aids reset after a bit of normal driving, but it seems consistent that the right sweeper takes them out. Braking was great, only seeming to degrade when heat/pressure built up in the tires. At least, that's what it felt like. I used an accurate pressure gauge to take pressure down to 29 psi for my last run, and thinking maybe I need to start at 28 or 27 psi. The Michelin PS4S seem to do well until they go over 35 psi (estimated because the dash isn't very accurate).
Pictures from Saturday. Electronic aids were active, which I understand may explain the "pattern" in the rear. The rotor faces look rough, but they're still smooth with no real grooving, yet. No heat checking. Do the front rotors look good, or am I smearing binding resin? Am I out of temperature range, or is this fine?
I forgot to take pictures after runs on Sunday, but after driving home four hours, things look mostly fine. Rears look a bit uneven, but some street driving to clean up before swapping in street pads should be fine, right? Or should I just go ahead and swap in the street pads? Braking is generally smooth and quiet while the transfer layer is still there.
Last month during my first weekend out (first ever track event), I was running slow and I didn't get enough heat into the front pads to bed them properly (OR I dragged the brakes too long and got too much heat into them?) and ended up with uneven pad deposits. I had some instances of ABS intervention, but I don't think stability control had to grab me. Braking was adequate, but grindy and grabby. Rears looked... normal? I'm looking through pictures from last month and it seems I didn't even take pictures of the rear. I drove the car on the street for a couple of weeks to clean the rotors off, which seemed to work out well before swapping to street pads, which took to the rotors well. My rotors didn't develop any hard spots, and everything worked much better during the second event this past weekend.
I am running G-Loc R12/R10 on the track, swapping with GS-1 for the street. I retrofitted the Brembo calipers and installed all new rotors and pads last month. I also replaced the GT/CS front spoiler and belly pan with PP parts and installed the big Vorshlag air deflectors for front brake cooling.
This past weekend was my second track event, I hit a much faster pace than last month, and I worked on braking with more intent during approach, adding trail braking into some turns to set the car. I encountered many more instances of maximum brake pressure since I was coming in with more speed, so I assume I built up more heat this weekend, leading to much more even transfer layer than last month (uneven deposits during first event shown at end of post). On Saturday during session 2 of 4, I switched the driving mode to Track by my instructor's guidance, because stability control was intervening early/unexpectedly. On Sunday, hitting a long right-hand sweeper at 70+ mph, my electronic aids went out (maybe broken thrust washer in rear axle), so I basically drove all of Sunday without electronic aids and have a flat spot to show for it. The electronic aids reset after a bit of normal driving, but it seems consistent that the right sweeper takes them out. Braking was great, only seeming to degrade when heat/pressure built up in the tires. At least, that's what it felt like. I used an accurate pressure gauge to take pressure down to 29 psi for my last run, and thinking maybe I need to start at 28 or 27 psi. The Michelin PS4S seem to do well until they go over 35 psi (estimated because the dash isn't very accurate).
Pictures from Saturday. Electronic aids were active, which I understand may explain the "pattern" in the rear. The rotor faces look rough, but they're still smooth with no real grooving, yet. No heat checking. Do the front rotors look good, or am I smearing binding resin? Am I out of temperature range, or is this fine?
I forgot to take pictures after runs on Sunday, but after driving home four hours, things look mostly fine. Rears look a bit uneven, but some street driving to clean up before swapping in street pads should be fine, right? Or should I just go ahead and swap in the street pads? Braking is generally smooth and quiet while the transfer layer is still there.
Last month during my first weekend out (first ever track event), I was running slow and I didn't get enough heat into the front pads to bed them properly (OR I dragged the brakes too long and got too much heat into them?) and ended up with uneven pad deposits. I had some instances of ABS intervention, but I don't think stability control had to grab me. Braking was adequate, but grindy and grabby. Rears looked... normal? I'm looking through pictures from last month and it seems I didn't even take pictures of the rear. I drove the car on the street for a couple of weeks to clean the rotors off, which seemed to work out well before swapping to street pads, which took to the rotors well. My rotors didn't develop any hard spots, and everything worked much better during the second event this past weekend.
. I didn't want to buy them, anyway. They're listed at $40+. I thought they were supposed to be about $15.
